Animanga in the News: 2/15/11

Here you will find a run down of today's anime and manga news! If anything sent waves through the anime and manga world today, you'll find it in this post! By the way, I'm saladesu, one of the translator-moderators of MH, and I'll be posting a post like this every day (as much as possible, anyway). Look forward to them ;)

If you would like to help in finding and translating news of this nature, please contact saladesu via PM ^^ Feel free to PM me any interesting bits of anime or manga news you find floating around the internet, too.

Kadokawa Shoten President Shinichiro Inoue announced on Tuesday that Jin-Roh director Hiroyuki Okiura, Princess Mononoke animation director Masashi Ando, Akira key animator Toshiyuki Inoue, and Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance animation director Takeshi Honda are collaborating on a feature-length theatrical anime film called Momo e no Tegami (A Letter to Momo). Inoue made the announcement during a press conference for Kadokawa Pictures' lineup for 2011-2012.

Ando was also the character designer for the late Satoshi Kon's Paprika and Paranoia Agent. Inoue was the character designer in A Tree of Palme and the Magnetic Rose section of Katsuhiro Otomo's Memories film; he will serve as the animation director on the last film by Kon, Yume-Miru Kikai. Honda was the character design for The Animatrix's "Beyond" video, Blue Submarine No. 6, and Dennō Coil.

The press conference also revealed that Tetsuya Yanagisawa, the director of the Sora no Otoshimono television anime, is also directing the Sora no Otoshimono film for an early summer opening. Similarly, Kazuhiro Takamura, the director of the Strike Witches television anime, is also directing the Strike Witches film for a 2012 opening. Source: Oricon

Kadokawa Pictures describes the Sora no Otoshimono film as "a date movie for 'ria-jū.'" "Ria-jū" is a recent slang term for people who enjoy real life, as opposed to otaku. Series script supervisor Yuuko Kakihara and character designer Yoshihiro Watanabe are returning from the television version to work on the film. Kazuhiro Takamura is not only directing the Strike Witches film but once again adapting the original character designs by Humikane Shimada. Similarly, "Striker Unit" is credited again with the screenplay with the collaboration of military history advisor and world setting consultant Takaaki Suzuki.